Today’s familiar story of the young girl subjected to cruelty from her stepmother and stepsisters only to win the hand of a handsome prince has been traced back more than a thousand years to Chinese folklore. From Asia the story spread to Europe where it was eventually popularized by Giambattista Basile, Charles Perrault, and other collectors of fairy tales. Although the basic story has remained the same, the earlier versions often differed in detail and some contained macabre elements.
The Chinese Cinderella Story
Around 850 C.E. the Chinese scholar, Taub Ch’eng-shih (died 863), recorded an old story that he had heard from a servant. In this tale, a young woman named Yeh-hsien is poorly treated by her ill-tempered stepmother and stepdaughter. When they discover that the poorly dressed and abused girl keeps a magic fish in a nearby pool, they catch, kill, and eat the fish.
The distressed Yeh-hsien, desiring to attend a festival, wishes upon the fish’s bones and suddenly finds herself arrayed in magnificent clothes. She attends the affair where she attracts the eyes of a wealthy merchant. Embarrassed by who she really is, Yeh-hsien hastily departs, leaving a golden slipper behind. After an exhaustive search, the merchant discovers the shoe’s owner and marries her. The evil stepmother and her daughter are killed in an avalanche of stones.
A Scottish Cinderella Story
Early Scottish folklore combines the Asian story with details of its own, some of which are found in today‘s version. The young girl is named Rashin Coatie and her magical benefactor is a calf rather than a fish. Similar to the Asian version, the calf is slaughtered and eaten by the stepmother; Rashin Coatie makes a wish upon the animal’s bones; and, she is able to attend a ball in a gown and satin slippers, one of which she loses.
A prince, enamored by the girl, discovers her slipper and announces that he will marry the owner. The stepmother convinces the prince that the slipper belongs to her eldest daughter after hacking off the girl’s toes and heel so that the shoe will fit. Later, a bird tells the prince that he has been deceived and who the real owner is. Of course, Rashin Coatie and the prince “live happily ever after.”
Giambattista Basile and the Cinderella Story
Giambattista Basile (1566?-1632) was an Italian soldier, government official, and author who wrote the Pentamerone, a collection of fifty stories, allegedly told to him by Neapolitan women. Among the stories was “The Hearth Cat” that told the tale of Zezolla, a young peasant girl who is mistreated by a wicked stepmother. However, unlike the other Cinderellas, this one has blood on her hands. She kills her stepmother only to see her replaced by a more vicious one who has six equally vicious daughters.
Otherwise, the story is essentially the same, with two notable exceptions. The fish and calf of the earlier versions is replaced by a magical date tree and Zezolla’s suitor and eventual husband is a full fledged king rather than one in waiting or a merchant.
Charles Perrault and the Cinderella Story
Charles Perrault (1628-1723) was a French author and patron of the arts who is most remembered today for his collections of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. He, more than any other gatherer of folklore, is most responsible for the Cinderella story known today, the one that Disney used for his animated feature.
In 1697 Perrault wrote Histoires ou Contes Du Temps Passe which featured “Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper.” To this French tale that he had first heard as a young child he added his own embellishments. He introduced a fairy godmother as the heroine’s patron and changed the French version’s variegated fur (vair in French) slippers to those made of glass (verre), which, of course, made any mutilation of a woman’s foot futile.
Like most folklore, Cinderella’s exact origin can never be determined, but the fact that it apparently began somewhere in Asia and spread westward cannot be disputed. The tale is evidence that more than a thousand years ago, the world may have been much smaller than what is generally believed.
Related article: Modern Versions of the Cinderella Story, More Modern Versions of the Cinderella Story, The Story of Sleeping Beauty
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